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Frontispiece. 



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THE 



LITTLE BLIND GIRL 



O F N O R M A N D I E 



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"And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not ; I will load them 
in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before 
them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them and 
not forsake them.— Isaiah, xlii. 10. 




New Tork: 

ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH & CO. 
No. 770 BROADWAY. 

Corner of 9th Street. 

. 1868. 



at 



Entered accoidiuj; to Act of C'ongiees, in the year 1S()^ 

ISy Anson D. F. RANDOLPn & Co., 

In the Clcrk'j Office of the District Court of the Ui;ited Statog, lor the Irionthen 
District of New York. 



E. C. JENKINS, PRINTER AND STERECIVPER 
20 NCRIH WILLIAM ST.,. 



,|w mmu f-liiil «irt. 



HERE lived in sunny Normandie 
^ (And still lives it may be) 
^'^ A little orphan peasant girl, 
Blind from her infancy. 



t 



She and her grandsire, old and poor. 

Together lived alone ; 
But ever round their simple lives 

A svi^eet contentment shone. 



THE LITTLE BLIMB GIRL. 



The old man could no longer work, 
And so to earn their bread 

The little maid in braiding straw 
Her busy lingers sped. 

The grandsire dearly loved the child, 

And every market day 
Her little hand would clasp in his 

And lead her in the way ; 

Up to the busy village near ; 

Where having sold her braid 
Her palm, with all its little gains. 

Once more in his was laid. 



THE LITTLE BLEYB GIRL. 



And murmuring many a word of love 
And cheer and childish thought, 

Peace shining round them as they went. 
Their simple home they sought. 




THE LITTLE BLIXB GIRL. 



And often would the old man say, 
As hand to hand was pressed, 

*'Ah! who will guide my little one 
When I am gone to rest ?" 

And then the little child would tell. 

In story or in song, " 
Of Him, who " leads by waters still, 

The tender lambs along." 

Of Him, who sent the ravens down 
And the good prophet fed ; 

Who numbered too, each golden hair 
Upon her childish head. 



THE LITTLE BLIND GIRL. 



For though unlearned and ignorant 
Of simplest worldly lore, 

Yet often in long summer eves 
Beside the cottage door 




10 THE LITTLE BLIJ^D GIBL. 



The fond old man would picture her 
From out the Holy page, 

The sweet and tender stories, there. 
Of childhood and of age. 

And so inwrought upon her mind 

These Bible legends were. 
That like an actual, present life, 

Became each character. 

Oft in her little bed at night 

She thought them o'er and o'er, 

And dreaming, smiled as at old friends 
To see them come once more. 



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THE LITTLE BLIjYD GIRL. 13 



And so the child within whose lids 

No ray of sunlight shone, 
Hearing but seldom human voice 

Save the old man's alone, 

Grew up within a fairer light 
Than shone on flower or tree, 

Grev/ up alone — yet in the midst 
Of goodly company — 

Bright in her sky, there ever shone 

The sun of Eastern skies; 
From waving palm, she felt the breeze 

That fanned her sightless eyes. 



14 THE LITTLE BLIMD GIRL. 



And there, beneath their cooHng shade 
The old man she could see 

Sitting, like patriarch of old. 
Beside the low roof-tree. 

And as round Abraham's tented door 

Stood Angels unaware, 
So round the maiden's cottage porch 

Thronged many a vision fair. 

Here, when the sun shone warm at noon, 
The good old man had told, 

How once a little harmless lad 
Was by his brethren sold. 



THE LITTLE BLIJ^'D GIRL. 15 



And there, as in a frame-work stood, 

Those brethren's cruel sin 
With Joseph and his stacks of corn. 

And little Benjamin. 

And in the casement, as the sounds 

Of reaping songs went by. 
The maiden, from the rustling sheaves. 

Saw Ruth look smilingly. 

She saw not at the eventide 

The tender twilight skies, 
But thought how *' at the close of day 

God walked in Paradise." 



16 THE LITTLE BLIjYD GIBL. 



She could not tell, what flocks of sheen 
Browsed in the meadow near; 

But as their softly tinkling bells 
Stole faintly on the ear. 

There rose before her, far outstretched, 

A fair Chaldean plain, 
And on it shepherds standing mute 

To hear a heavenly strain. 

And there a gentle shepherd stood ; 

Clear in her inner sight, 
Full well she felt, that of her world 

He was indeed the " Light." 



THE LITTLE BLIJTD GIRL. 17 



And as those low sheep bells, she thought. 
Though faint and far away. 

Will bring the careful shepherd back 
Before the close of day. 

So feeble call or prayer of mine, 

A sightless lamb forlorn. 
Will find me at my Savior's side 

Or on His bosom borne. 

And so the little blind girl lived — 
And those two, poor and lone, 

Dwelt in a pure and inner life. 
That they had made their own. 



18 THE LITTLE BLTjYD GIRL. 



It happened, that one summer morn 

Before the cottage door. 
There stood a stranger, lately come 

From far and foreign shore, 

And from the blind of other lands 
He had been sent, he said. 

That by a new and wond'rous mode 
God's Gospel might be spread. 

Within his hand a volume lay — 

And turning to the maid 
And placing it upon her arms 

In gentle tones, he said, 



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TEE LITTLE BLIJ^D GIRL. 21 



"This is the book of God, dear child, 
And often we have heard. 
How faithfully thy little heart 
Has kept each sacred word. 

"But God, who to the tender lamb 
Has tempered the rough wind. 
Who laid the shadows on thine eyes. 
Has not forgot His blind. 

" And as for darkened Israel 
He wrote on Sinai's stone, 
So, for all sightless eyes like thine. 
His teachings here are shown." 



2% THE LITTLE BIIJ^D GIRL. 



Firmly, above the letters raised 
He placed the maiden's hand, 

And pressed it gently on the page. 
And made her understand 

How to the blind man eves w^ere found. 
And how a gracious Heaven 

Had ordered, that for one lost sense. 
Another should be given. 

He had brought her the Book, he said, 

A precious, gift indeed, 
That all which others told to her 

She for herself might read. 



THE LITTLE BLIXD GIRL. 23 



When with a firm and practised touch 
Each letter she had guessed, 

The stranger was to come again, 
And teach her all the rest. 

And then the good man went his way 

And left the sacred book. 
Which to her heart the happy child 

In speechless rapture took. 

It was the dream of all her life, 
The one fond vision bright, 

For which, and but for which alone, 
She e'er had missed the light. 



24 TEE LITTLE BLIMB GIRL. 



'Twas not enough to listen near 
The harp which David played. 

But she, herself, would touch the strings. 
And learn the sounds they made. 

To read herself those precious words 
That so much joy had given ; 

To read them, too, to other blind. 
And lead them so to Heaven, 

And had God heard her unbreathed prayer ? 

Could He before her lay — 
Within her very fingers grasp — 

The Life, the Truth, the Way? 



THE LITTLE BLIJ^D GIRL. 



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And then before her solemnly 
The Holy Book she placed, 

And with a timid trembling touch 
The moulded letters traced. 




'-. L 



26 THE LITTLE BLIjYD GIRL. 



Alas ! alas ! poor little one ! 

The busy fingers used 
So hardly on her coarse straw work. 

All sense of touch refused. 

In vain she tried them o'er and o'er. 

And still anew begun ; 
It was her first great grief in life ; 

A harsh and bitter one. 

At length there came a happy thought 

Across the maiden's brain. 
And with a sharp and glittering blade. 

Without a thought of pain, 



THE LITTLE BLIKD GIRL. 27 



She gashed each hardened finger's end 

And left it bleeding fast, 
Thinking, that now made sensitive, 

The touch must come at last. 

It was indeed a piteous sight, 
To see the poor blind child, 

Her little fingers dropping blood, 
Yet every nerve stretched wild, 

Her very breath held tightly fast. 
Each muscle strained intense. 

The pausing pulses seeming stilled. 
For the one missing sense. 



28 THE LITTLE BLIA'D GIRL. 



Alas ! nought but a sick'ning pain 
Followed the bleeding touch, 

Poor child ! her little bleeding heart 
Was bleeding full as much. 

And now all fruitless was the pain ; 

Until the wounds could heal 
Who was to braid and sell the straw 

That earned their simple meal ? 

Ah, happier had it been, she thought, 

Instead of now like this, 
Still to have lived in ignorance. 

And ne'er dreamed of such bliss. 



THE LITTLE BLIJ\^D GIRL. 



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While yet her tears streamed down afresh, 

Heart-broken, bitter tears, 
A well known touch is on her arm, 

A loved voice in her ears. 

And in the old man's withered hands 

The poor torn fingers rest; 
And gently upon locks of snow 

The golden curls are pressed. 

And as he staunched the bleeding wounds. 
And kissed them o'er and o'er, 

He whispered " Come, dear little one. 
And walk with me once more, 



30 THE LITTLE BLIJ{D GIRL. 



** High upon Olive's shaded mount, 
And say, if thou can'st see 

Those bitter heart-wrung drops that fell 
In sad Gethsemane ? 

" By that pure brow on which they stood. 
Kneel thou, dear child, with me. 

And lay thy little grief by His 
Who died on Calvary. 

" And still thy heavy sobbing breath, 
And slowly, word for word, 

Make thou the prayer that there He made. 
And thou, too, shalt be heard." 



THE LITTLE BLIKD GIRL. 



The child knelt down with looks serene, 
And by the old man's knee. 

Clasping the holy tear-stained Book, 
She whispered solemnly — 




S2 TEE LITTLE BLLYD GIRL. 



** Father, Oh ! hear Thy sightless child 
As Thou didst hear Thy Son ; 

Let not the will of my weak heart, 
But Thine, O God, be done." 

Then she arose, the little maid. 

And on her brow so clear 
There, dwelt a look of such sweet peace 

It seemed as though anear. 

The angel, whom that prayer had brought 

To lone Gethsemane, 
Now stood, to soothe her stricken heart, 

And calm her misery. 



THE LITTLE BLIJS^D GIRL. 



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And now mark well God's graciousness, 

And in what mystic ways 
Love works out all its promises, 

And Faith its power displays. 

The maiden gently put aside 
The stranger's precious Book, 

And with a kiss upon its leaves, 
A last farewell she took. 

<'I may not keep thee." so she spake, 
"Thou blessed Book divine. 

Thou must be read by tenderer touch, 
And happier hands than mine; 



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THE LITTLE BLIXB GIRL. 



"But God knows best," and once again 
Her lips are on it pressed — 

Why throbs so fast the Httle heart ? 
What stirs the heaving breast ? 




THE LITTLE BLIKD GIRL. 85 



And why, as hour by hour goes by, 
Yet stands the Uttle maid, 

Bright tears of joy within her eyes, 
And still the soft lips laid 

Within the Book, upon whose leaves 
From side to side they move, 

As if, some happy secret there, 
They o'er and o'er would prove. 

And what this new-found secret was 
In Normandie to-day, 
No little lisping peasant child, 
But could its meaning say. 



i 

! 

I 

i 30 THE LITTLE BLIjYD GIBL. 



For well they know the story there. 

And still they love to tell 
How God had blessed the little one, 

Whose lips could read so well. 

And how, as in their simple faith 

Is fondly there believed. 
By God's own whisper from the Book, 

She all his words received. 

How, too, to many a sorrowing home. 
These words the maiden took. 

And laid, upon each bleeding wound 
Balm from the healing Book. 



THE LITTLE BLL.WD GLRL. 



And when some crushed, heart-broken soul 

Would murmur in its woe, 
How, with her tender soothing words, 



The little maid would go 



And tell them of that wondrous love, 

Whose mysteries are such, 
That after kissing the harsh rod. 

It blossoms 'neath our touch. 



Then of her own sweet life she told — 
And when her young heart sank. 

How God had turned the bitter cup 
To sweetness, as she drank. 



TEE LITTLE BLIND GIRL. 



And how, at parting, she would kneel, 

And slow and softly there. 
Would make them say with her the words 

Of our Lord's simple prayer. 

Yet always, so the peasants say, 

As the low prayer arose, 
Her voice at one place softened grew. 

And the small palms would close, 

As tho' some tender memory 

A holier pause had won, 
And God stood nearer, as she breathed 

The words, *' Thy will be done." 



THE LITTLE BLLKB GIBL. 39 



So did they humbly walk with God, 
And when the time had come 

To end the old man's pilgrimage, 
And bear him safely home, 

Dying, he felt no care for her, 
But kissed her sightless eyes : 

He knew that there was light for them 
Waiting in Paradise. 



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lUSl,?'' CONGRESS 



016 inlSr?'"'^ 




